Kell Brook defeats Michael Zerafa; calls out Amir Khan

Bradley Cullen

Kell Brook defeats Michael Zerafa; calls out Amir Khan image

Kell Brook put an underwhelming but effective performance to defeat Michael Zerafa via unanimous decision in a WBA world super welterweight eliminator at the Fly DSA arena in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Brook improved to 38-2 (26 KOs) with the hard-fought 12 round battle as judges saw it in his favor by a wide margin with scores of 118-110, 119-109 and 117-111. Brook started fast in the first round and bloodied the nose of his Austrailian opponent behind a jab and a three-shot combination. However, Special K struggled to get into any kind of rhythm thereafter in what was a less than impressive performance in front of his hometown fans. Zerafa grew in confidence as the fight entered the later rounds but offered little that would have had the former IBF welterweight champion in trouble.

WBA super-welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd (23-0 16 KOs) -- who recently defeated Jason Welborn via a fourth-round knockout on Dec.1 -- now has Brook as his mandatory defense, but Brook has his sights set on another fight.

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Speaking at the post fight press conference, Brook called out longtime rival Amir Khan to agree to the Battle of Britain/War of the Roses bout that the boxing fans in the United Kingdom have been demanding for the past five years.

“I want to make it public, I will agree to 147 pounds and the rehydration for Khan," Brook said regarding the fight and the weight issue that has been an obstacle in making the showdown final. "The time is now. Give the fans the fight they want. I’m on a mission in 2019.”

Although the fight has been verbally agreed to, Khan has also been in talks with pound for pound star and WBO welterweight champion Terrence Crawford (34-0 25 KOs) for an early 2019 bout. 

“People have big expectations of Kell but for me he boxed well," Brooks trainer John Fewkes said about his fighter's performance. "He came through 12 rounds and the things we were working on worked. The reason he got hit too much was because he was trying too hard."

Team Brook acknowledged their fighter's underwhelming performance, as did Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.

"Kell knows that was below par," he said. "If I was Amir Khan, I'd be on the phone now."

The co-main event between Josh Kelly (8-0, 6 KOs) vs. David Avanesyan (23-3-1, 11 KOs) for Kelly’s WBA International welterweight title was postponed due to Kelly falling ill the night before the fight. that bout was replaced with Ireland’s Jono Carroll taking on France’s Guillaume Frenois, which ended in a 114-114, 113-115 & 115-113 draw.

MORE: Join DAZN and watch Canelo vs. Fielding on Dec. 15

Also fighting on the card...

  1. Undefeated IBF inter-continental champion Kid Galahad scored a points victory over Brayan Mairena
  2. Anthony Fowler defeated Jose Carlos Paz
  3. Anthony Tomlinson defeated Innocent Anyanwu
  4. Terri Harper defeated Feriche Mashauri
  5. Qais Ashfaq defeated Jay Carney
  6. Callum Hancock defeated Ivan Nikolov
  7. Shakeil Thompson defeated Konstantin Alexandrov

 

Bradley Cullen